Bill > HB1110

This bill, known as the Georgia Small Business Healthcare Affordability Act, aims to create a new tax credit for eligible small businesses in Georgia that offer "individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements" to their employees. An individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement is a type of employer-funded account that employees can use to pay for qualified health insurance purchased on the individual market, as defined by federal regulations. A "qualified taxpayer" under this bill is a business with fewer than 50 employees. To qualify for the tax credit, these businesses must contribute at least $200 per month per employee to these arrangements, and this contribution must be at least as much as any employer-sponsored health benefit plan contribution made for that employee in the previous year. The credit amount is capped per employee and decreases over five years, starting at $600 per covered employee in the first three years, then $400 in the fourth, and $200 in the fifth, with no business receiving the credit for more than five years. There's also an annual statewide cap of $10 million on the total tax credits issued. Businesses must apply for preapproval of this credit by October 1st of the year before they intend to claim it, and the state will issue preapproval certificates by November 1st. If a business is a pass-through entity (like a partnership or S-corporation) and doesn't have its own income tax liability, the credit can be passed on to its members, shareholders, or partners. The credit cannot exceed a business's income tax liability and cannot be carried forward to future years or applied to past years. This new tax credit provision will be in effect until December 31, 2030, and the bill becomes effective on July 1, 2026, applying to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.

Budget and Finance

https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72629